“Ugh”, the sound of groaning could be heard coming from a room. In the room, stuffs were scattered all around, ranging from jars of wine to bones from animals whose meat has been consumed until just little strands were left on the bones. The place was the description of absolute untidiness. There was a single person in this room whom was half naked, silently groaning while holding his head trying to stand up.

Who else could it be except Andrew, after getting back to the house, he just grabs some wine and with some meat available in the house, he starts drinking his way all through the night. From his house, the sound of laughter could be heard. He was the only one whom was laughing loudly although the rest of the villagers were wailing wildly in grief being unable to settle themselves. But the person whom was thought to have been celebrating was wallowing in grief while everything that happened during the day was replaying all over in his head. He still hasn’t fully gotten over the fact that he had to kill Michael and all that they have been through since the time they met was flooding his head like waves. He had after all taken him as his father and although he has started understanding that he had treated him that way for his own pleasure like he was stuffing a livestock full just to end up killing it for festivities purposes, he still couldn’t help remembering all the good times they have been together, the laughter they have shared, the times Michael had saved him from many life threatening situations and tears were pouring out of his eyes while trying to laugh it all out.

He tried his possible best to forget it all but he just couldn’t, although he had portrayed every bit of calmness when he killed Michael, inwardly, he was anything but calm as he had been struggling inwardly to even hurt him. All that mattered to him was Michael and the reason why he allowed himself to be hurt that way by Michael was because he wanted to still be fully sure that Michael was not the kind of person he thought of him to be. But even after the many chances he gave to Michael, he had always have the killing intent when he was attacking him and his attacks were always directed at vital parts of his body.

It wasn’t just easy to forget someone like that although the betrayal was obvious. He shakes his head momentarily to forget about it while trying to stand up, but a burst of strong headache hits him which makes him to stumble and the only piece of clothing happens to fall off at this moment. ‘Damnit, I am having an hangover after all that drinking’, he complained inwardly. “Eiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii”, a sharp shriek sounds out at this moment and it came from the entrance of his room, Marian was standing there staring at Andrew with dumbfounded eyes. She was enthralled in his body which seems to border on the boundary of perfection. It was slim, fair and pure with no sign of blemishes and not a bit of excess fat. He had the body of a pretty maiden with his blue eyes to couple it all up with his black silky maiden like hair which draped on his shoulder, even little Andrew was fairly beautiful too. Such a young maiden has seen more than she should for her age and anyone could be sure that such an image could never be erased from her memory for a long time. She blushed furiously on such a sight before running off, on Andrew seeing her run off, he was filled with a great sense of shame.

Although he was always bold when it came to fight and slaughter, when it came to his nakedness, he was sensitive and at this moment was portraying the epitome of shame as his face turns beet red and seemingly as if the hangover was dispersed, he picked up a garment to quickly cover his body.

‘Damn it. She saw everything’, Andrew screamed inwardly. ‘Why did she appear suddenly over there? Why did he forget to close the door?’, those were the questions that came across his mind. Seems like in his celebration/grief, he forgot that he was no longer staying with Michael and he brought someone home with him, and at that a female, hence the awkwardness from being seen naked was now more than ever present.

After dressing up in the garments, he comes out only to find that his loot were nowhere to be found and the sitting room was sparkling clean. ‘Who had the guts to rob his father over here?’, Andrew screamed in his mind while anxiously looking around for even a lead of where his treasures is, such that he momentarily forgot about what had happened between him and Marian. He checked the other rooms and to his relieve, he found the treasures there, well packed and actually taking lesser space than they originally were.

‘How long have I been sleeping and how deep was it that I didn’t hear the sound of stuffs moving? If there was someone sent to kill me, he could have done that ten times over’, Andrew thought inwardly. He also wondered how that little figure of Marian was able to move all those stuffs, since there was no one in the house with him and no outsider would think of arranging his stuffs for him, so the only person whom could have done it must have been Marian. Andrew looks outside and finds that he has over slept and for so long at that. It was nearing night time and the sun has almost fully set. Perhaps due to going through such journeys and fights after just returning from that heart wrenching pain due to swallowing the herb and also the fact that he drank until deep into the night when the cock should be crowing if this was in the normal earth, he was thoroughly exhausted and ended up oversleeping and thus all these happened.

What left him reeling in shock was the fact that Marian got over her mother’s death quickly or was just doing the chores in order not to think about it too much. He thought the young girl would be crying her eyes out right now over the fact that her mother was gone and won’t come out for a long while but instead he was the one whom wallowed in grief for almost the whole night before sleeping, such a cry baby he was. He just smiles depreciatingly at his behavior.

He gets to her room and knocks, there was a low shout from inside. He opens up to find Marian inside whom was blushing furiously over what has just played out. “I promise, I didn’t see anything”, Marian says loudly. On hearing such words, Andrew couldn’t help feeling weird, and that was due to the fact that he was sure she had spent seconds scanning through his body from his head to toe before even running away.

He was suppose to be the one of whom was feeling totally ashamed, but it turned out the other way. Although it wasn’t showing facially, deep down he was trying to press down the shame he was feeling. “Don’t worry about that at all. I understand it was an accident”, Andrew said with a straight face, while thinking inwardly, ‘She must have seen what am capable of, so even if she happens to mouth it off, it should be building my prestige. I don’t think there is any need to be ashamed’, feeling smug about what was between his legs. Marian on the other hand was shocked about the way Andrew was cool with it already but on thinking about what she has just saw, she blushes furiously once again.

There was a bit of silence in the room for a while. As if trying to remove the awkwardness, Andrew says, “Am sorry about all you have been through. Only if I had gotten then earlier”, with a remorseful face. What he was sorry about actually was having found her being raped and nothing else, but she thought he meant being late about her mother, hence she said, “It’s okay. I am a big girl after all and I can’t always wallow in grief”. She said that but her eye rims were getting wet.

Andrew just smiles before hugging her suddenly which causes her to be absolutely nervous and almost tried pushing Andrew off, but on noticing he didn’t have any other intention, she let him be. “It’s okay to cry away. You can share all your sorrows with me. I am your only family member at this moment. Now and forever more, so don’t try to act brave when you are with me and just let it all out”, Andrew says while gently patting her head gently. Marian trembled gently on hearing such words, although she had acted strong, she was still a young girl after all. She has just been through so much at such a young age. She started sobbing uncontrollably while she said, “Am all alone now. Dad left me first and now mom. I felt like am being betrayed and cursed to be alone in this world”.

“I am with you right now, ain’t I?”, Andrew says while trying to calm her down. “I won’t leave you for anything in this world”, even Andrew couldn’t believe that such a thing was coming out from his mouth but it seemed free and from deep within his heart. He wanted to protect this young girl whom was by his side at this moment. Hearing such words just made Marian cry more, but she was able to feel secure at the same time as she hugged Andrew tightly and after a period of crying and hugs, she unintentionally fell asleep while laying on his arms. Andrew realized that lately and eventually laid her to sleep, but on trying to leave, he realizes her hands were still on his cloth. He just smiles and bit by bit, he was able to relieve his garments from her hold. He went out of the room, breathed deeply then went on to clean the remaining part of the house, especially his room. Although he had scattered his room due to his celebration, Andrew was actually clean conscious and although not up to a high degree, he still loved his surroundings nice and tidied up. After being through with cleaning which took much of his time, he went to the kitchen to prepare something for both him and Marian, it was already late after all. Before he started cooking though, Marian woke up and on seeing him in the kitchen, a smile blossoms on her face. She has already come to accept Andrew as part of her family and the only loved one she has currently, after all they have been close since when they were young and had things going well for them then, so it wasn’t really hard to make such a decision. She then walked up to him as she helped in preparing a sumptuous meal that night which they ate while laughing and joking about the past without touching any topic that would lead to sadness afterwards.